Where they’re heading

Of the handful of teams that seem destined to challenge the Heat in the Eastern Conference this year, the Bulls are coming out of the preseason feeling best about their chances. They’ve got point guard Derrick Rose back after knee surgery, and Rose has demonstrated that he is 100 percent healthy and back to his MVP-caliber form. If he can avoid setbacks, there will be much excitement in Chicago.

Rose, of course, has an excellent supporting cast, starting with center Joakim Noah in the middle and Carlos Boozer—who played fairly well last year—at power forward. Luol Deng, a favorite of coach Tom Thibodeau, was the heart of the team in the absence of Rose, and will continue to be a strong presence on both ends of the floor. The Bulls have seen the emergence of guard Jimmy Butler, and with his defensive prowess and shooting ability (38.1 percent on 3s last year), he could prove to be the best shooting guard Rose has played alongside.

Where they’ve been

The Bulls were considered on par with the Heat back when Rose was the MVP in 2011, but things went off the rails in Chicago thereafter. After the lockout, Rose went through a rough season pocked by injury, finally getting himself 100 percent in time for the ’12 playoffs. In the first game of the postseason, however, he tore his ACL. After that, the Bulls organization was not clear what lay ahead for Rose in his rehab, and for much of last spring, rumors of Rose’s return were rampant.

Meanwhile, Rose’s teammates put forth a valiant season, managing 45 wins and somehow upsetting the far more talented Nets in the first round of the playoffs. The contrast between the undermanned Bulls outworking opponents and Rose sitting on the bench in a suit rubbed many the wrong way, and Rose was widely criticized for not getting back on the floor. But Rose stayed off the court, not feeling he was mentally ready to return, and is only now coming back.

Introducing … Mike Dunleavy Jr.

The Bulls are fighting off the luxury tax and came into this summer with very little to spend. They targeted the guy they wanted quickly, though—forward Mike Dunleavy Jr., who had successfully come back from a knee injury himself and had a very productive year in Milwaukee, averaging 10.5 points and shooting 42.8 percent from the 3-point line.

Thibodeau regularly takes heat for playing Deng too many minutes (he led the league in minutes the last two years), but one of the problems has been that the Bulls were usually very thin on the wings and had few options. With Butler and Deng in the starting five and Krik Hinrich and Dunleavy behind them, the Bulls are in better shape and perhaps can give Deng more of a rest.

Numbers game

In the first two years of Thibodeau’s tenure in Chicago, defense reigned—the Bulls were second in efficiency three seasons ago and bumped that up to first the following year. Last year, Chicago was still among the best defensive teams in the league, allowing an average of 0.898 points per possession, which ranked sixth in the NBA according to Synergy Sports.

But there was major slippage in one category that Thibodeau should be expected to address: Transition. The Bulls went from No. 6 in the league defending transition in 2012 to No. 27 in the league last year. It would be easy to point to the team’s troubles on the offensive end (they shot 43.7 percent from the field, 25th in the league) and suggest that Chicago’s fast-break woes stemmed from the high volume of missed shots. But, in fact, teams got out in transition at about the same rate in both years. The Bulls simply need to be better at defending the fast break.